Intense one-on-one drills, power play work and conditioning exercises kept the Coyotes on the ice for an extended practice Thursday. It was their second day back after time off for the Olympics as they continued preparation for Tuesday night's game against the St. Louis Blues.

Coach Dave Tippett said Friday's practice would be similar to make sure everyone is on the same page and getting enough action to get back into the flow of things.

"It's a combination of doing some things that are geared to our game play and then getting the conditioning back," he said.

"You could tell they had one day under their belts. Things went a little smoother, and another good day tomorrow and make sure we're getting back up to speed."

Tippett said there is a good way to help ensure a team is getting back up to speed.

"You compete at your hardest, take yourself out of a comfort zone, go to a place where you're actually earning extra conditioning, and that's what these days are about."

The one-on-ones spur a player on, and Tippet said, "If you don't compete, you get exploited … forced to compete whether you want to or not."

Defenseman Adrian Aucoin said while Wednesday's practice was 'get you legs back kind of a deal," on Thursday it was "get back to work."

"Six days (of practice) is a long time," he said. "Even in training camp, I don't think you get six days of practice in a row. It's a good week for us to work hard fine-tune a lot of little thing we need to work on."

Defenseman Keith Yandle said the practice was what a player would expected after a long break.

"We've got to get back in the swing of things," he said. "A few more good days of practice, and everyone will be excited to get back into games.
"It's always good to have practices like that, work hard, get guys back into things, competing, so I think the practices are going good."

Looking ahead

Forward Matthew Lombardi said players look forward to a break in the schedule, but when they're back the focus is on getting back to playing games.

The Coyotes, in fourth place in the Western Conference, have 19 games remaining with four straight at Jobing.com Arena to open up their run for what they hope is their first playoff berth in eight years.

"We need to have a great first game and build off that," he said. "Our schedule's pretty tough here, with the away games we've got going into March, and we know that."

Prucha back on ice

Forward Petr Prucha, in a yellow jersey, skated for the first time Thursday after suffering an upper-body injury in the final game before the Olympic break. He said things went well, and he's anticipating a return to full contact Friday.

Prucha was rolled off the ice on a stretcher after being slammed into the boards by James Neal of the Dallas Stars.

As for his return Tuesday night, he said while it's too early to tell, "I still have four days, and I feel very good right now, and I would say I will be ready. But it can change like that, so we've got to wait and see what happens after a regular practice."

Tippett said Prucha will be a regular practice player Friday if he has no recurrence of headaches.

Ice chip

Goaltender Joel Gistedt practiced two days with the Coyotes and was returned to Las Vegas after Thursday's practice. He filled in because Ilya Bryzgalov was playing for the Russian Olympic team. Gistedt said he enjoyed the brief call-up and learned things that will help him as he hones his game in the minors.